If you receive a call asking for personal information, hang up immediately.
Many of our viewers have contacted us to report receiving a suspicious phone call. The scam call claims to come from Central Bank and prompts the victim to enter their card number.
Carol Scott, Central Bank vice president of operations, said, "We will never call our customers and ask them for the checking account number or social security number, the debit or credit card number, their passwords, their pins . . . If you get a call, the first question you should ask yourself is that if if this is truly my bank, why would they be asking me this?"
Scott said they started getting calls from customers Wednesday morning about the latest phishing scam, "They try to get the credit card or debit card number to use it fraudulently."
So what should you do if you get an automated call saying your debit card has been locked for security?
"hang up the phone and call a published number for your bank to find out if my bank really did call me, and if not, call and report what happened to you", Scott said.
She said this is just a common phishing scam and it's not surprising during the busy holiday season when people will likely need to use to use their debit cards frequently.
"The bad guys will cast a wide net. They buy phone numbers. let's say for the Mid Missouri area knowing that then if they pose to be from Central Bank, who does have a presence in the market. Some of the people who they contact will be Central Bank customers", Scott said.
The bank doesn't know how phone numbers were obtained, although it's likely the scammers simply purchased a phone list. Please note that Central Bank says their system has not been compromised.